MY LATEST BOOKS
The Story-Solution: Change Your Toxic Self-Stories and Thrive (Out in January 2026)
Trapped in toxic narratives?
Rewrite your self-story | Edit away negativity | Step into happiness
Have you ever told yourself one of these? I'm stupid... I'm ugly... I'm bad...I'm the best... I'm a victim... I'm different... We all tell ourselves stories to make sense of our place in the world and why we are the way we are. Sadly, the most damaging ones often dominate and hold us back. In The Story Solution, I identify the six core self-blaming and world-blaming stories, revealing how to break free from these self-sabotaging scripts and release yourself from their grip. Mixing psychological insights, case studies and practical guidance, this empowering guide will help you to rewrite your self-story in five accessible steps and learn how to grow, thrive and prosper.
Exhausted: An A-Z for the Weary
Burnout is said to be the defining feeling of the post-pandemic world - but why are we all so exhausted? Some of us struggle with perfectionism, while others are simply overwhelmed by the demands of modern life. But whatever you're feeling, you are not alone - and this liberating, enlightening guide to exhaustion in all its forms will help you find the energy to beat burnout and weariness. From confronting our inner critics to how our desire to be productive stops us from being free, I bring together science, medicine, literature and philosophy to explore the causes and history of exhaustion and burnout, revealing new ways to combat stress and negativity. Inventive and freewheeling, full of comfort, solace and practical advice, Exhausted is an inspiring guide to getting control of your own exhaustion - and rediscovering happiness along the way.
The Art of Self-Improvement: Ten Timeless Truths
Self-help today is a multi-billion-dollar global industry, one often seen as a by-product of neoliberalism and capitalism. Far from being a recent phenomenon, however, the practice of self-improvement has a long and rich history, extending all the way back to ancient China. For millennia, philosophers, sages, and theologians have reflected on the good life and devised strategies on how to achieve it.
Exhaustion: A History
Today our fatigue feels chronic; our anxieties, amplified. Proliferating technologies command our attention. Many people complain of burnout, and economic instability and the threat of ecological catastrophe fill us with dread. We look to the past, imagining life to have once been simpler and slower, but extreme mental and physical stress is not a modern syndrome.
The Truth About Julia
A taut debut psychological novel which asks the question - can there be one single truth? How many versions of the truth can there be? In June 2014, Julia White - a beautiful and intelligent young woman - blows up a coffee shop in central London, killing twenty-four people before turning herself in to the police. Apart from publishing a potentially ironic manifesto, she refuses to explain the reasons for her actions.
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT MY BOOKS
"This psychological novel is not only a quest to uncover the truth, but also touches on the issue of radicalisation in society."
— Closer
"Masterly... What Schaffner shows so cleverly in this gripping, timely novel, is that there may be no one single truth; there may be many little truths, or possibly none at all and what there is is always open to interpretation."
— The i-paper
"A well-written and intriguing portrait of two women that invites questions."
— The Sun
"A good way to understand a culture is to get to know how it thinks about both help and self-help. 'Our views on self-improvement ultimately tell us not only who we are, but how we think about others,' Anna Katharina Schaffner, a cultural historian, writes in The Art of Self-Improvement: Ten Timeless Truths. The book is a sweeping survey, from Confucius and Socrates and Mary Baker Eddy to Tony Robbins and other modern-day ministers of the self. But it is also a meditation on ever-evolving ideas about what the individual owes to society, and vice versa."
— Megan Garber, The Atlantic
"A twisty, smart, fast-paced ride."
— Heat